Things I don't tell the Nutrition Tracker about...

Oooo, I can see where not tracking those things would lead me into a bunch of trouble, but if that works for you, you are lucky! :-) Jan

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I also am guilty of not tracking gum, I also stopped tracking things that had no calories, fat, carbs or protein. I usually manually enter my foods because I need to be accurate and the suggestions don't match what I eat. I also don't track tums,cough syrup or pepto and it all has calories. I'm going to start.

I wasn't tracking butter-on-the-bread, milk-in-the-coffee, "little" things like that. Turns out that the body counts everything that goes into one's mouth! So this week, I'm tracking EVERYTHING except medications. In just 4 days, my body is responding to the honesty.

I don't use a tracker but I keep a total going on paper or in my head. I don't track things little things that I forget such as gum and I also don't measure vegetables such as broccoli and I'll just give it a round number like 50 but I do track most everything else and I tend to track UP so an apple no matter how small I call 100 etc. I round everything UP so any extra little calories I didn't count are typically included by default.

i dont track gum, and seriously a lot of food here in Africa i just cant find the calories it contains! so i just measure EVERYTHING well almost everything but i concentrate on tracking my fitness stuffs

I personally don't bother tracking tea but I always drink it plain without any milk or sugar so it should not be too significant. Although just now I checked the nutrition tracker and learned that brewed tea contains .3 calories per fluid ounce.

I never tracked stuff like that either. My weight loss was always right where it should be too, so I figured I was either burning more calories than was being counted or my other foods were being overestimated a little.

I don't track at all now, and I've been maintaining my weight just fine so.. meh.

I'll honestly admit the tracker frustrates the hell out of me. Weighing and measuring EVERYTHING left me hungry and tearing my hair out. My best weight loss streak (10 lbs) came when I STOPPED using it and gunned it on the fitness tracker.

runningsushi - I went through an obsessive tracking phase. It was helpful in helping me determine good portions and all, but after a while I got a good feel for that stuff even without the tracker. I'm tracking more casually right now, because it does keep me accountable so I don't do silly things like eat an entire bag of croutons in one sitting.

This is my third time using sparkpeople to try and lose weight. I've learned good eating habits from my last two stints, my focus now is on moving around more.

Today I did a 14 minute mile plus 20 minutes of yoga. I feel good!

RUNNINGSUSHI
Posts:
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12/4/10 11:11 A

I loved your post and found it hilarious. I do not think you are cheating yourself if you do those things once in a while. Yes, it might hurt your success but you seem to be doing well the rest of the time so why not enjoy life and pick the fat off the roast three times a year?

You can get take the tracking to extremes and I found it made me crazy after a while as I was tracking everything and immediately after I had eaten had to go online and track it. It is so much better to my mind's well-being to take myself a little less serious.

LMAO Love to Play!! :) My mom and I used to play that game with broken cookies. If it wasn't a whole cookie, it didn't count. lol.

I haven't tracked in a long, long time, but when I did, and I was counting everything, it was becoming an obsession.

Everyone needs to do something different to make weight loss work for them. For me, it's about balance. It's eating mostly good food, but eating a little bit of bad food sometimes and being okay with that. If, everytime I licked the spoon from the icing, I had to guiltily run to the computer and track it to make sure I didn't go over my calories/sugar/fat for the day, I wouldn't feel like I was living my life. I don't take spoonfuls of icing anymore, but sharing the slightly covered icing spoon with my daughter and watching her face light up is a moment that I would never be willing to trade.

I don't track tea (I drink it plain), the rare diet soda, sugar-free gum, herbs and spices. That's about it, I think. Of course I sometimes forget to add something, but for the most part I try to track everything else.

ETA: I wanted to add that one reason I try to track mostly everything is because I'm not interested in just calories. I also want to see how much sodium, etc, I'm consuming (one reason why I'll track something like ketchup). And I include my multivitamin because there are a few nutrients I tend to be low on.

I look at the tracker as an estimate anyways, so I don't always bother with ketchup, a packet of Splenda, spices, and such. I figure even if you were completely vigilant you'd still be working with a margin of error, and I think it's good not to get too worked up about it.

I used to play that game until I fudged so much I just gave up the tracker; however, since I've been truthful with both myself & SparkPeople, my weight loss has reflected it & I'm so much happier. Even when I had a mini-splurge & ate more of a snack than I'd planned, I included that, where it showed I was off the charts. I WILL say that the few times I had a bit more than I'd planned but still included it, I was still within my range, so.......I'm tracking everything no matter what, & that's been working great.

You're not the only one; I don't track every bite either, or things like coffee, tea or catsup.

Yes, I know they do 'add up' but the extras really are minimal for me (I did track things like that a few times, just to see) and since I'm usually at 1400 calories or under, the extras don't seem to be hurting me.

I also know I'd be better off either to not eat these extras at all or to track each tiny bite, but I also know I'd probably quit if I got that particular. You have to do what works for you. I think it's great when people are that accurate and disciplined.

I also want to clarify that these are not things I do every day! Some of these things (like cheese balls or picking the fat off a freshly baked ham) only happen 3 or 4 times a year AT MOST. The others happen maybe once or twice a month.

The holiday season is a season of chea-... er... I mean, celebration! I happen to be celebrating this year by getting back on track with my diet and exercise. My diet is fairly under control, even with the occasional indulgence. It is really my increasingly sedentary lifestyle that has been hurting my once girlish figure. :)

Yep, those little nibbles and tastes that don't get tracked can sure add up. So can measuring improperly and estimating, or eating those "heaping" teaspoons and tablespoons and not tracking the complete amount.

I don't track diet sodas, sugar free mints, or sugar free gum. But I do try to limit those because more than just a couple can add up to some serious calories!

The way I know that I am (mostly) within my range is that I usually hit the low to middle half of my range with my "real" eating. My goal is longer-range: instead of trying to lose 50 pounds fast, I'm trying to change my lifestyle to one of more balanced eating and more exercise. I don't expect to see pounds melting away at a phenomenol rate, but I do expect that by this time next year I will be slimmer and have more energy.

I wish everyone the best of luck in their healthy lifestyle choices and goals. :)

I have to track every bite to be sure I'm within my range. It's an obsession, and I have to admit...I'm always at the low end of my range anyways. To each his/her own! Best of luck to you in your journey and Happy Holidays!

For me, I need to track EVERY bite because if I don't, I would not know if I was in my calorie range (mostly).

I'm the type who has lied to herself in the past - that the spoon licking and child leftover nibbles weren't "real" calories. And all those lies added up to my weight gain (well, each 3 pregnancies and some medication side effects added to the gain, but lying about my food intake is what prevented me from losing it).

By tracking every little bite and nibble, I can see how they add up and have noticed that, right now, I'm not doing too bad. Finishing the half a piece of pumpkin bread my toddler didn't eat for snack yesterday didn't put me over my goal (even when we stopped at a buffet for dinner).

I don't want to spend any more time in denial. Now is the time for me to really learn what healthy eating looks like, including spoon licking and nibbles. If I leave those out, the only person I'm lying to is me, and I'm worth my total honesty.

May I ask how you know you're staying (mostly) within your calorie limit if you don't track those things? They can certainly add up as almost everything you listed is high-calorie, low-nutrition nibbles that can really pack on the calories quickly!

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